Inevitability of the Redemption

7/28/2019 Inevitability of the Redemption

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The

Inevitability of Redemption

The auther : Father Zakaria Boutros

www.fatherzakaria.comThe publisher ;


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We have seen in the previous book (the crucifixion of the christ), how God created Adamin a state of purity & rightousness & when he sinned enticed by satan, he fell down fromthe eternal life & was expelled from the paradise of blissfulness, he brought to himself thedeath sentence according to the fair judjment of God, but God in his immense love & fullmercy wanted to forgive Adam & all his offspring & to take off their punishment

This was not an easy matter,as after issuing the punishment verdict, how can he cancel it& replace it by forgivness & he is plenary in his fairness

If he fogives Adam the sinner & his offspring so where is his fairness ?

& if he he didnt fogive Adam & his offspring so where is his mercy ?

So as we see there is a big problem requiring a wise solution for syncretizing his fairness& mercy

This is the main issue of our subject in this book , as we will declare the wise solution setforth by the perfect Gods wisdom , supported by the holy bible verses & we will mentionalso the testimony of islam on that

The auther


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The Inevitability of Redemption

Chapter one: in the christianity

Chapter two: In Islam

Chapter one

The redemption in the christianity

In this chapter we will highlight the issue of redemption from the christian point of view ,

so we will speak on the idea of redemption in general & the redemption of mankindinspecifically ,then we will clarify the act of redemption & all its blessings

First:

The idea of redemption

To give a simple idea about the redemption from the christian point of view we have totalk about : the concept of redemption, then we will give examples about the redemptionfrom the holy bible:

.

1) The concept of redemption:

The redemption is the rescuing from the death by a substitute (substitute person).so the

redeemer carry the sentence of the redeemed person , or in a simpler meaning ; theredemption is the death of the redeemer for the redeemed

2) Examples for the redemption:

God expalined the idea of redemption by several ways , we will mention some of them:

A) The redemption of Isaac:

God ordered Ibraham saying: take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac,and go into the land of Mouriah (name of the mountain). Offer him there for a burntoffering Ibraham went as God told him , when he reached that far place specified by God,the bible said Ibraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son.He took in his hand the fire and the knife, to slaughter his son, then the angel of Godcalled unto him out of the sky, and said Ibraham, Ibraham, Don't lay your hand on the boy,


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neither do anything to him. For now I knew that you fear God, seeing you have notwithheld your son, your only son, from me. Ibraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, andsaw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Ibraham went and tookthe ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son (Genesis 22:1-23)

Notice here my brother in this incident that GOD after he ordered Ibraham to slaughter hisson & to Offer him there for a burnt offering, he forgave him & saved Isaac fromslaughtering & the order was cancelled

Actually my brother God cannt break or change his words, therefore he brought on a ramto be slaughtered instead of Isaac that what we call the redemption, so the ram carried thesentence (the slaughtering) instead of Isaac

B) The redemption of every man firstborn

The holy bible mentioned that when the people of Isreal were in the land of Egypt & were

humiliated by Pharaoh, God sent prophet Moses to save them from this hand & get themout of the land of egypt

But Pharaoh strongely opposed that & didnt let them be free easily so he and his peoplewere striked by God the ten strikes, the last strike was the killing of every first-born in theland of egypt from the man first-born to the cattle first-born

In spite of the presence of the people of Isreal in the land of egypt at that time, their first-borns were not hurt by any of these strikes , why? because God made for them a canon inthat days, this was for every family to slaughter a lamp as a sacifice to the lord , a setofffor every first-born to be his redemption, that what the lord said: you shall redeem all thefirstborn of man among your sons

(Exodus 13:13)

you will notice my brother that every firstborn of man had to be killed like the egyptiansons,as the lord ordered the angel to kill every first-born in the land of egypt

So he has to kill also the Israeli firstborns as they were in the land of egypt, but the lordsaved them from this strike so their firstborns were not killed & for his first order of killingthe firstborns to coincide with his second order of forgiving them he put the canon ofredemption saying: you shall redeem all the firstborn of man among your sons (Exodus13:13)

C) the redemption sacrifices for expiation


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The issue of redemption was clearly showen in the old testment as the sinner man whocommites a sin bring his trespass offering as a redemption for himself to be saved fromGods punishment he deserves , in the canon it was mentioned "If anyone commits atrespass, and sins unwittingly, in the holy things of the lord; then he shall bring histrespass offering, a ram without blemish from the flock, to expiate him and he will beforgiven.(Leviticus 5:15-17)

Also in the canon 'If the whole congregation of Israel sins, , and they have done any ofthe things which God has commanded not to be done, and are guilty; when the sin inwhich they have sinned is known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull for a sinoffering , to expiate them, and they shall be forgiven.(Leviticus 4:13-21)

You notice my brother that according to the justice of God the soul who sins, shall die(Ezekiel 18:20)

But because of his mercy he had to forgive him & for the syncretizing between his justice &mercy this canon was made ,the canon of redemption, so the sinner bring a ram forexpiation to get forgiveness

From this brother it is clear to us the idea of redemption which the lord legitimated for thesyncretizing between his justice & mercy


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Second:

The redemption of mankind

Tn the previous point we demonstrated a general idea about the redemption concerning itsconcept , we mentioned some examples from the holy bible in the old testment explainingthat, actually the idea of the redemption which was clarified by the the lord in the oldtestment was a paving & a symbol for the real redemption that was prepared by the lordfor the redemption of the whole mankind from death sentence , so the rams & bulls arenot enough for the redemption of man, actually the justice of God dont accept the animalredemption for man& if it was allowed that in the old testment it was as a symbol for thereal redemption,as the real redemption is centered aroud the saying of the apostle paulthat one person died for all people; therefore, all people have died.(2 Corinthians 5:14),

So one must die for the redemption of all people, but who is that one who can redeem thewhole mankind? actually he is not a normal one ,but he must fullfile certain conditions toreedem the whole mankind

we will dicuss these conditions in the following:

Prerequisites of the Redeemer

we said the redeemer must fullfile certain conditions to reedem the whole mankind,as hemust be unlimited & in the same time he has to be a human , but a pure human

let us clarify these prerequisites in the following:

A) Un unlimited redeemer:

this is the first prerequisite that must be fullfiled by the redeemer for the following:

The sin gets its real value according to the one who was sinned to, also its punishment ismeasured by his position so its redemption is corrolated with his value , for exapmle if Imistaked to my friend my mistake will be limited & needs only an apology , but if Imistaked to a man of authority I will deserve a great punishment & the mere apology will

not be enough,therefore if I sinned to God so my sin will be unlimted as God is unlimted &I will deserve an unlimted punishment, so my redemption needs unlimted expiation , sothe redeemer who will expiate my sin must be also unlimted


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This concerns the first prerequisite of the redeemer ,

Concerning the second prerequisite he must be:

B) A human redeemer :

The redeemer must be of the same spiece of the redeemed & equal to him in value, so it isnot possible for an animal to redeem a human as it is not of his spiece or value so theredeemer must be a human to redeem the mankind

this concerns the second prerequisite of the redeemer,

Also he must be:

C) A pure redeemer:

This is the third prerequisite that must be fullfiled by the redeemer, as if he himself is asinner he cannt redeem others but he will die for his sins only

So who is the redeemer who fully fulfile these prerequisites?

Does the animal fully fulfile these prerequisites? of course not as animal is a limited creature& also not a human

Does the angel fully fulfile these prerequisites? of course not as the angel is a limitedcreature & also not a human

Is there any prophet fully fulfile these prerequisites ? of course not as the prophet is alimited creature& he is also not pure as he is one of Adams offespring who wascontaminated with the sin microbes

So who is the redeemer who fully fulfile these prerequisites?

2) The only redeemer:

We have seen in the previous point the prerequisites that must be fullfiled by the redeemer ofmankind


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We have seen also that neither animal nor angel nor a prophet is fit for the redemeption ofmankind

the problem of the redemeption of mankind had a sole solution set forth by God with hisgodly wisdom

this solution is Jesus Christ the redeemer & tet us discuss now how all the prerequisites

were fullfiled in Jesus Christ

A) Only God is unlimited:

No one my brothr is unlimited but God & only him so there is only one solution to thisproblem which is for God to abdicate for redemption of man

for that God made his unlimited soul to be revealed in the limited human body of the christ tomake him unlimite as required for the redeemer, thats what was explained in the holybible saying the mystery of godliness is great: God was revealed in the flesh (1Timothy3:16)

(for more understanding of the secret of the divine incarnation refer to the book The christThe son of God by the auther)

B) The christ is a human:

God took from virgin Mary the body in which he revealed by his soul, so the christconcerning his body is a complete human , for that the apostle Paul said but he emptiedhimself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being foundin human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of thecross. (Philippians 2:7, 8)

C) The christ is pure

This prerequisite also was flfilled by the christ , Apostle peter said on him: who did not sin,"neither was deceit found in his mouth." (1Peter 2:22), the Christ stood in front of theJews saying; can any of you convicts me of sin? (John 8:46)

From this brother we have seen that Jesus Christ is the only redeemer who fully fulfilledall the required prerequisites, as he is as regards his divine nature unlimited & as regardshis human nature is a man , as regards the purity he didnt commit any sin so he puthimself on the cross as an atoning sacrifice to expiate the sins of all mankind & to die for


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the redemption of the people ,so the holy bible said being justified freely by his gracethrough the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God set forth to be an atoningsacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through thepassing over of prior sins, in God's forbearance;( Romans 3:24, 25)

This is Jesus Christ by whom we had through his blood the forgiveness for our sins

Do you take him as a personal savoir? Do you believe in his expiation for your sins &transgressions?

Thirdly;

The act of Redemption

The analysis of the act of redemption itself & the blessing we got is a long subject, but wewill mention some of these blessings

1) The mercy:

The redemption, my brother. is an act of mercy from God as the holy bible says: not byworks of righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he savedus (Titus 3:5)

So none of us has any favour in this redemption, but it is emerging from the loving heartof God, who is full of mercy, shouldnt we thank the lord for his enormous mercy?

2) The intercession:

The meaning of the intercession is for the Christ to be an intercessor between God & manto prevent his punishment over them as he died instead of them, so the holy bible says:There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that isgiven among men, by which we must be saved"(Act 4:12)


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3) The death instead of the mankind:

Apostle Paul says: that one person died for all people; therefore, all people have died (2Corinthians 5:14), so the death of the Christ for the mankind was considered in Godsjustice as death of the whole mankind as the Christ gave himself up for us as the holybible says as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and asacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.( Ephesians 5:2 ),

So we say in the prayer of the holy mass He is who loved his people who are in the world& gave himself as redemption for us to the death who dominated us (Bsillian mass)

4) The revival of mankind:

So the Christ was not only crucified for the mankind but he resurrected from the dead to

resurrect the mankind with him from their sins to live a new sacred life ,as the bible said:,for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through ourtrespasses (i.e. under the sentence of death as a punishment for our sins), made us alivetogether with Christ (i.e. He take for us the sentence of death & gave us a new life with theChrist), and raised us up with him (i.e. by the resurrection of the Christ from the dead),(Ephesians 2:4-6)

It says also: that just like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, sowe also might walk in newness of life.(Romans 6:4, 5)

You, for whom the Christ died, will you consider yourself died to sin or you are still its slave?Did you rise with the Christ to walk in sacred life? or you are still captured in the grave ofsin? Ask him to raise you now in a new pure life

5) Glorifying the mankind:

The holy bible says : For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life inChrist Jesus our Lord.(Romans 6:23), so we have seen that God bestowed us the eternallife as the Christ died for us , the bible also said : even when we were dead through ourtrespasses, made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with him, and made us tosit with him in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ, (Ephesians 2:4-6), so as the Christraised from the dead he raised us with him therefore he opened for us the door of heavento get in it & enjoy living with him, for that apostle Paul is saying: You should walkworthily of God, who calls you into his own Kingdom and glory. (1Thessalonians 2:12)

So do you walk in the life of holiness & grace to enjoy the kingdom of heaven & the

eternal life?


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Chapter two

The redemption in Islam

We have seen from the above the redemption from the Christian point of view, we will seehere the Islamic point of view

Actually the redemption was concerning the justice & mercy as we have seen before.Islam also testify that God is all-just & by his justice he condemned the mankind by thedeath sentence for their sins as mentioned in the cow Chapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 81:Whosoever earns evil and his sin has surrounded him, they are dwellers of the Fire

But Islam also admits that God is All-merciful & he has to forgive the sins & to set peoplefrom hell as mentioned in the house of Imran chapter (Surat Al-Imran) 103: you were onthe brink of a pit of Fire, and He saved you from it.

This is not a simple matter;' therefore Islam admits that it is a difficult problem as quransaid in the companys chapter (Surat Az-Zumar) 19:Is, then one against whom the Wordof punishment justified Will you rescue him who is in the Fire? & Imam Al-Nasfyexplained this saying: this means whom the Word of punishment justified Will you rescuehim? I.e. no one can rescue him (Tafsir Al- Nasfy (Al-Nasfy exegesis) part 4 page 41),

From that we see that Islam admits the redemption as will be explained in the following:

First:

The concept of the redemption in Islam

Imam Al-Nasfy says the redemption is the rescuing from the slaughtering by a substitute& this is not a cancellation of the verdict, but this verdict was confirmed through theredemption (Tafsir Al-nasty (Al-Nasfy exegesis) part 4 page 21)

This concept coincides exactly with the Christian concept of the redemption; yes this is acommon ground

Examples of the redemption:

On our talking about the redemption in the Christianity we mentioned few examples as:The redemption of Isaac, the redemption of man firstborn, the redemption sacrifices forexpiation


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We will mention also from Islam explaining this concept:

1) The redemption of Abrahams son:

The Islamic scholars differ in specifying who was meant by Abrahams son was he Isaacor Ishmael? some said he was Isaac, others said he was Ishmael, Imam Al-Nasfymentioned the two opinions , we will mention his words literally , he said : the sacrifice

was Ishmael & thats what Abu Baker, Ibn Abbas, Ibn Omar & a group of the followersGod contentedness on them said .

& for Ali & Ibn Masud & Al-Abbas & a group of the followers God contentedness onthem they said he was Isaac, to confirm this : Jacob wrote to Joseph peace upon them: from Jacob Gods Israel, the son of Isaac ,Gods slaughter, son of Abraham, Gods khalil (Tafsir Al- Nasfy (Al-Nasfy exegesis) part 4 page 20) , most likely he was Isaac as it wasconfirmed by the previous proof & what was mentioned in the holy bible confirming hewas Isaac

Anyway the quran mentioned this redemption story as follows: So We gave him the glad

tidings of a forbearing boy. And, when he was old enough to walk with him, (i.e. to go withhis father in his work) he said: "O my son! I have seen in a dream that I am slaughteringyou, so look what you think! (i.e. what do you think of that)" He said: "O my father! Do thatwhich you are commanded, if Allah will, you shall find me of the patient ones." Then,when they had both submitted themselves to the Will of Allah, and he had laid himprostrate on his forehead (or on the side of his forehead & put the knife on his throat forslaughtering); and we called out to him: "O Abraham! You have fulfilled the dream!"Verily! Thus do we reward the good-doers, verily, that indeed was a manifest trial and weransomed him with a great sacrifice

Imam Al-Nasfy explained this saying: here there is a problem as the act committed byAbraham as regards laying his son prostrate on his forehead & putting the knife on histhroat for slaughtering ,is this an actual slaughtering verdict or not?, if this was an actualslaughtering verdict, so what was the meaning of the redemption mentioned in the versewe ransomed him with a great sacrifice?, & the redemption is rescuing from theslaughtering by a substitute & God gave Abraham the ram to be slaughtered instead ofIshmael , this is not abrogation for the verdict but it is the verdict confirmed through theredemption as it was meant for the son to be an oblation by this verdict & he washonoured by the redemption(Tafsir Al- Nasfy (Al-Nasfy exegesis) part 4 page 21)

You may realize from this utterance of Imam Al-Nasfy a confirmation for the redemption

canon or saving or rescuing from the verdict by a substitute & although the redeemer hadtaken the verdict this was not considered an abrogation (i.e. cancellation) for the verdictbut its confirmation & honouring the redeemed person.

2) The redemption of Abdullah Bin Abdel-Motaleb:

Abdullah, the grandfather of the prophet vowed to God saying: O God, if I was endowedten children & they grow well with me I will slaughter on of them in Kaaba

Then when he was endowed ten children, he wanted to slaughter the one selected bylottery , he was Abdullah, the father of the prophet , so all the people of Quraish came out

to stop him from slaughtering his son ,and he told them then what to do? I have vowedthat , therefore do I have to offer redemption ? , they said: If his redemption was by ourmoney we will redeem him, if it is by our cattle, we will slaughter them for him


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When they consulted a soothsayer, she asked them: How much the blood money youmade if you want to redeem a guilty person? They said: ten camels, she said: get them &if they were not accepted you will add ten by ten till your God is pleased

Then they made a lottery between Abdullah & the camels, it came to Abdullah, they addedthen ten more, they repeated again the lottery it came once again to Abdullah, theycontinue to add more camels & lottery continues to be on Abdullah & Abdel-Motaleb was

praying to God to accept his redemption & listen to his intercession, till the camelsslaughtered reached one hundred , then the lottery came to the camels , he was wellpleased & they all yelled in joy& they said to Abdel-Motaleb: God had accepted theredemption of your son ( from The Mouled Book by Sheikh Mohammed bernak, page 17)

From this incident it is obvious here the idea of redemption, as Abdel-Motaleb vowed toslaughter one of his sons for God & had must execute his vow, but as he was seeking themercy of God, not to slaughter his son he had to satisfy Gods justice by executing thesentence of slaughtering in a substitute for his son as a redemption for him

Is not this a clear example for the concept of redemption?

& a third example we will bring to confirm the idea of redemption in Islam.

3) The sacrifices of the Adhaa feast (the sacrifice feast):

It is called also the redemption & sacrifice feast (Al-Akhbar newspaper 24/4/1964) & thesacrifices slaughtered in it are for the purpose of redemption or expiation

As in:

1) The religion of Islam book (in the persian country (Iran now), the sacrifice feast is calledthe feast of oblation (i.e. slaughter) & during this feast, it is said during the ablution: OGod let this sacrifice be an expiation for my sins & take off evil from me)( page 367)

2) Al-Fikh book (jurisprudence book): narrated Anas bin malek: the prophet peace uponhim scarified by 2 horny & salted rams; he slaughtered them by his noble hands (SahihMuslim, part 1, page 711)

3) Mesh-Kat al-masabih book: he mentioned that the prophet as he was slaughtering themsaid: O God, this is for me & whosever made no sacrifice from my nation (page 42)

4) Ihiaa Oloum Eldin book (the revival of the religion sciences): Al-Baz & Abu-Al-sheikhnarrated from Abi-Saeed: the prophet peace upon him said, O Fatima, get your sacrifice &have a look on it as by looking at its first drop of blood you will get forgiveness for allyour past sins (part 1 page 243)

5) Ihiaa Oloum Eldin book (the revival of the religion sciences): the slaughtering of Hady(the sacrifice) is rapprochement to Almighty God so you have to finish the slaughtering ofHady (this sacrifice) & ask God to grant you redemption so by each part of it (thesacrifice) he redeems a part of you from the hell, so the bigger the Hady (the sacrifice) &its parts the bigger will be your redemption from the hell (part 1 page 243)

From all of these it is very obvious that the sacrifices of Adhaa (the sacrifice feast) ispointing to the redemption & expiation, so the Islam admits the idea of the redemption


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Second:

The redemption of mankind

Islam also admit that there must be a redemption for mankind, the best example in thequran in: The The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 32 Because of that We ordained forthe Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder( meaninganyone killed innocent self which didnt commit any murder), or to spread mischief in theland ( meaning a pure self didnt spread mischief in the land ) it would be as if he killed allmankind),

You can find in this example the idea of the redemption is very clear, as people beingsinners they deserve death as we explained previously in the cow Chapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 81: Whosoever earns evil and his sin has surrounded him, they are dwellers ofthe Fire

But if an innocent pure person executed this verdict, so his death will be considered adeath for the whole people

This leads us also to discuss the Prerequisites of the Redeemer, on the light of this quranverse:

the Prerequisites of the Redeemer:

On our subject concerning the redemption in the christianity we knew the Prerequisites ofthe Redeemer here we will see the acceptence of Isalm of same Prerequisites, so let usclarify this on the light of this previously mentioned quran verse & other verses:

A) The redeemer is unlimited

As no one can expiate the unlimited mans sin except the unlimited God, we will see inquran what testifies this as in the following verse

Divorce chapter (Surat At-Talaaqa) 5: whosoever fears Allah and keeps his duty to Him,He will remit his sins from him so God is the one who remit the sins

The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 12: I will remit your sins and admit you to Gardensunder which rivers flow (in Paradise).

So it is clear here that only God can remit the human sins ,so this last verse confirms thesaying by telling that God himself is the one who remit the sins

B) The redeemer is a human

The redeemer should be a human to represent the mankind & for his death to beconsidered as death of the whole people as we will see:


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The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 32 Because of that We ordained for the Children ofIsrael that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder( meaning anyone killedinnocent self which didnt commit any murder), or to spread mischief in the land (meaning a pure self didnt spread mischief in the land ) it would be as if he killed allmankind), and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind.,from this it is clear that the redeemer who through his death can expiate the whole peoplemust be a self with the same human self nature , for his death to be death of the whole

people

C) The redeemer is pure:

In the same previous verse we see also this Prerequisite:

The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 32 Because of that We ordained for the Children ofIsrael that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or to spread mischief inthe land (a pure person) it would be as if he killed all mankind, so the person for hisdeath to be considered as death of the whole people must be pure didnt spread mischiefin the land

A) The christ the redeemer :

A) Unlimited :

being Gods Word,& a spirit from him

Women Chapter ( Surat An-Nisa')171: The Messiah 'Iesa, son of Maryam, was (amessenger of Allah and his Word, which he bestowed on Maryam and a spirit from him

Sheikh Mohi El-din El-arabi said: The word is Allah (God) revealed & it is the essence ofAllah (God) & nothing else (The book of fuscous al-hokm part 2, page 35) & he saidalso: the word is the divinity (The book of fuscous al-hokm part 2 page 143), so as thechrist is Gods Word,& a spirit from him , therefore his is unlimited as the spirit of God isunlimited ( for more see the book of the christ Son of God to the auther)

B) A human:

the christ as regards the human nature is a normal human , this what the angel said in his

glade tiding to Maryam

in Mary chapter (Surat Maryam ) 19 : I am a messenger from your Lord, to announce toyou the gift of a righteous son.( means pure son)" so he is annoncing to her the gift of apure son

C) Pure:

The quran & converses testify that the christ is the only pure human from all mankind, in:

Mary chapter (Surat Maryam ) 19 that we mentioned before the angel says: I am amessenger from your Lord, to announce to you the gift of a righteous son.( means pureson) ,so the christ is a only pure human


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The family of Imran chapter (Surat Al-Imran) 36: I have named her Maryam, and I seekrefuge with you (Allah) for her and for her offspring from Satan, the outcast."

Imam al-Razy said in his tafsir (exegesis) of the word the Christ: he was cleared fromthe sins & transgressions by Gabriels wing at the time of his birth to protect him fromSatan {Al-Razy tafsir (exegesis) part 3 page 676)

Narrated Abu Hurairah: I heard the prophet of Allah peace upon him said: every newbornfrom Adams offspring has been touched by Satan at the time of his birth so he yelledscreaming from his touch except Maryam (Mary) & her son

In Sahih Al-Bukhari: each son of Adam is stabbed by Satans finger when he is bornexcept Isa son of Maryam, when he (Satan) tried to stab him he stabbed in the curtain (i.e.he did not cause him any harm)

From this, it is clear that the Christ is the only innocent & pure person who has not beentouched by Satan, so in the Christ all the redeemer Prerequisites are fulfilled: beingunlimited, human & pure

Thirdly:

The act of redemption:

We explained in our discussion about the act of redemption in Christianity it includesmany immanent issues which were executed by the Christ, here we will see also thetestimony of Islam

1) The mercy;

The redemption is an act of Gods mercy, it was mentioned in a converse in Sahih Al-Bukhari( as the prophet said: none of you can get into paradise except by the Godsmercy, they said neither does you prophet of God, he replied neither do I unless Godcovers me with his mercy)

The quran entitles the Christ as the mercy of God as mentioned in

Mary chapter (Surat Maryam) 21: And we appoint him as a sign to mankind and a mercyfrom us (Allah),

2) The Intercession:

The quran & the Islamic Scholars made it clear that the Intercession is:

A) It is the right of God only

As mentioned in Prostration Chapter (Surat As-Sajdah) 32: Allah it is he who has created

the heavens and the earth, .you have none, besides him, as a protector or anintercessor.


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In the exegesis (tafsir) of AlJalalin concerning the interpretation of this verse: have none,besides him, as a protector or an intercessor (meaning who can protect you from hispunishment)

B) The Intercession attributed to the Christ

The quran attributed the Intercession to the Christ as mentioned in

The family of Imran chapter (Surat Al-Imran) 45: the angels said: "O Maryam! Verily, Allahgives you the glad tidings of a word from him, his name will be the Messiah 'Isa, the sonof Maryam, held in honour in this world and in the hereafter (the afterlife), and will be oneof those who are near to Allah."

All the annotators (Al-Ray, Al-Zamakhshary, Al-Bydawy, Al-Nasfy & others said: held inhonour in the hereafter (afterlife) means the Intercession

3) the death for the mankind:

The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 32 We ordained for the Children of Israel that ifanyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or to spread mischief in the land itwould be as if he killed all mankind,

& the Christ who was killed by the Children of Israel & he killed nobody on the contrary hewas resurrecting the dead & he didnt spread mischief in the land, but he led the people tolive in peace, so by killing him as if they killed all mankind,

4) The revival of the mankind: also in

The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 32 We ordained for the Children of Israel that ifanyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or to spread mischief in the land - itwould be as if he killed all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he savedthe life of all mankind

& The Christ after he was amortised by God through the feline Jews & was raised to Godso by reviving him as if he revived all mankind & the testimonies for the resurrection ofthe Christ are numerous, we will mention here some of them:

Mary chapter (Surat Maryam) 33: "And peace be upon me the day I was born, and the day Idie, and the day I shall be raised alive!"

The family of Imran chapter (Surat Al-Imran) 55;Allah said: "O Isa I will amortise you andraise you to myself

Waheb said: God had amortised 'Isa for three hours & raised him to heaven thatsAlmighty God s saying: I will amortise you and raise you to myself

From that we see that the Christ was resurrected from dead & his resurrection wasconsidered a resurrection for the whole mankind & thats one of the numerous blessings

of the redemption


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Chapter Three

The challenges & their answers

First challenge: The Christ was not crucified

Second challenge: It appeared so to them

Third challenge: Was the repentance insufficient instead of the crucifixion?

Fourth challenge: What was the Christs guilt to be crucified for the people?

First challenge:

The Christ was not crucified

A challenger may say that The Christ was not surely crucified, depending on the quranutterance in:

Women Chapter: ( Surat An-Nesa) 157: And their saying (means the Jews saying wekilled Messiah 'Isa, son of Maryam, the messenger of Allah, " but they killed him not, nor

crucified him, but: It appeared so to them they have no certain knowledge if they killedhim or not

Those challengers are saying that the quran confirms with no doubt that The Christ wasneither crucified nor killed as it appears from that verse

But let us put beside it some other quran verses & some of the Islamic scholarsutterances & annotators to explain the real meaning of this verse & here are some of thisquran verses in the following:

The family of Imran chapter (Surat Al-Imran) 54, 55 And they (the Jews) plotted, and Allah

plotted too. And Allah is the Best of the plotters. Allah said: "O 'Isa! I will amortize youand raise you to myself and clear you of those who disbelieve from this verse it is clearthat the Christ died before he was raised to the heaven

Mary chapter (Surat Maryam) 33: And peace be upon me the day I was born, and the day Idie, and the day I shall be raised alive!" from this verse it is clear that the Christ diedbefore he was raised alive

The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 117:when you amortize me, you were the watcherover them from this also it is clear that the Christ was killed by the Jews & God was thewatcher over them

let us go through the Islamic scholars utterances in the exegesis of these verses:


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1) Imam Al-Razy said: narrated ibn abbas & mohammed ibn Ishak: the meaning ofamortizing you is to let you die ( Al-Razy exegesis ( tafsir) part 2 page 457)

2) Narrated Wahb: the Christ died for three hours (Al-Razy exegesis (tafsir) part 2 page457)

3) narrated ibn Ishak: he died for seven hours (Al-Razy exegesis (tafsir) part 2 page 457)

From that it is obvious that the Christ really died & those who deny the crucifixion differamong themselves & they depend in their opinions on unconfirmed utterances & even intheir denial of the crucifixion we can see a testimony for the crucifixion as:

4) Imam Al-Bydawy said: it was said that the human nature was crucified & the divinenature was raised (Al-Bydawy exegesis (tafsir) part 2 page 128)

Actually the saying of Al-Bydawy is correct concerning the crucifixion of the humannature , but it is incorrect concerning what he said about the raising of the divine nature ,as we believe that the crucifixion actually happened for the human nature &which was

affected by the crucifixion, but the divine nature was inseparable from the human nature ,not for a moment or even an eye blink & the divine nature was not affected by the act ofcrucifixion , we can understand this fact when we look to a piece of iron put in fire , whenwe hammer it by a hammer we will see the iron only get affected by hammering , but thefire never affected

In general the previous saying of Imam Al-Bydawy although it is incorrect concerningwhat he said about the raising of the divine nature , but we see in it a clear indication thatthe Christ was really crucified by his human nature( we believe also that the divine naturewas inseparable from the human nature)


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Second challenge:

It appeared so to them

In the quran verse mentioned in the previous challenge :

Women Chapter: ( Surat An-Nesa) 157: And their saying (means the Jews saying )wekilled Messiah 'Isa, son of Maryam ,the messenger of Allah, " but they killed him not, norcrucified him, but: It appeared so to them they have no certain knowledge if they killedhim or not

the challengers conclude from this verse that the Christ was not crucified but It appearedto them so:

the answer : I dont want to answer this challenge by myself but I will leave this to one ofthe greatest quran annotators who is the great scholar Imam Al-Razy he will answerhimself & I will extract his comment on that expression (It appeared so to them)

Al-Razy exegesis ( tafsir) part 3 page 350:

If it is permitted to say that almighty God put a mans resemblance on another person

this will open the door for confusion & uncertainety , as if we see ( Zaied: certain person),he may not be Zaied, as Zaieds resemblance was put on someone else & if a man weds (marries) Fatima , he may not marry Fatima as a Fatimas resemblance was put on Khadija, therefore he will marry Khadija instead, thinking that she is Fatima

Imam Al-Razy concluded a very dangerous fact:

if it is permitted to put a persons resemblance on another person , then the marriage,divorce & the possession all will be untrustable & doubtful

So Imam Al-Razy denys that the expression of It appeared so to them means putting theresemblance of the christ on another person but maybe the quran meant by saying Itappeared so to them that by crucifying the christ they thought that they demolished hismission, but this never happened, so it appeared to them so


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Third challenge

Was the repentance insufficient instead of thecrucifixion?

The challenging of: was not enough for the man to show repentance to get theforgiveness from God?

As the following quran verse says:

The cow chapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 37:

Then Adam received from his lord words. And his lord pardoned him. He is the one whoforgives the most merciful.

The answer: Actually the forgiveness of the sin has many aspects

The first aspect:

The Repentance & the Remorse

Actually the sinner must repent & show remorse for his sins or he will get no forgiveness,the holy bible declares this clearly as the Christ said unless you repent, you will allperish Luke 13:3

& the quran agreed on that by the previous verse (Then Adam received from his lordwords. And his lord pardoned him. He is the one who forgives the most merciful.) The cowchapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 37

Is the repentance enough for the redemption?

Actually although repentance is important for the forgiveness but it represents the

remorse & determination not to do it again in the future, but remains an important partwhich is the cure of what man has done in the past to get the forgiveness,


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Let me explain this by an example from the daily life, then will apply this to our subject.

For example, if someone crushed your car, then he told you I repent & promised you notto do this again in the future, is it enough to forgive him? Does this apology willcompensate you for your loss?

Or he should give you the name of his insurance company to repair your car or to

compensate you to buy another car if the damage is grave?

Now let me apply this on our subject, so when a man sins, it is not enough to repent orapologize for his sin to be forgiven but there must be an expiation, redemption, or asacrifice for the sins of the past to be forgiven, thats what we will talk about .

The second aspect:

The expiation or redemption, or sacrifice

The issue of expiation or redemption is mandatory for the forgiveness & this is obvious inboth the Christianity& Islam

In the Christianity the bible says clearly in:

1 john 2:1, 2 (My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you might not sin.Yet if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father-Jesus Christ, one who isrighteous. And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also forthe whole world)

But what are the types of sacrifice in Islam?

Actually there are several types of sacrifice in Islam; some of them will be mentioned inthe following verse:

The table chapter (Surat Al-Maidh) 89 :{Allah will not punish you for what is unintentionalin your oath he will punish you for your deliberate oath, for its expiation feed ten poorpersons on a scale of the average of that with which you feed your families or cloth themor manumit a slave, but whosever cant afford, then he should fast for three days}

In this verse it is clear that there is expiation for the deliberate oaths which is feeding often poor persons or clothing them or manumitting a slave, or fasting for three days

But if the sin is one of the grave sins so God himself should expiate for this sin,


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As stated in the following verse:

Mutual fraud chapter (Al-Taghabun) 9: {and whosever believe in Allah & perform righteousgood deeds .He will expiate from him his sins, and will admit him to gardens under whichrivers flow}

In this verse it is clear that God himself expiates from the sins, till he abolish them

Actually the real expiation in Islam is what we mentioned before on the sacrifice, so let meremind you again about it.

2) The sacrifices of the Adhaa feast (the sacrifice feast):

It is called also the redemption & sacrifice feast (Al-Akhbar newspaper 24/4/1964) & the

sacrifices slaughtered in it are for the purpose of redemption or expiation

As in:

1) The religion of Islam book (in the persian country (Iran now), the sacrifice feast is calledthe feast of oblation (i.e. slaughter) & during this feast, it is said during the ablution: OGod let this sacrifice be an expiation for my sins & take off evil from me)( page 367)

2) Al-Fikh book (jurisprudence book): narrated Anas bin malek: the prophet peace uponhim scarified by 2 horny & salted rams; he slaughtered them by his noble hands (SahihMuslim, part 1, page 711)

3) Mesh-Kat al-masabih book: he mentioned that the prophet as he was slaughtering themsaid: O God, this is for me & whosever made no sacrifice from my nation (page 42)

4) Ihiaa Oloum Eldin book (the revival of the religion sciences): Al-Baz & Abu-Al-sheikhnarrated from Abi-Saeed: the prophet peace upon him said, O Fatima, get your sacrifice &have a look on it as by looking at its first drop of blood you will get forgiveness for allyour past sins (part 1 page 243)

5) Ihiaa Oloum Eldin book (the revival of the religion sciences): the slaughtering of Hady(the sacrifice) is rapprochement to Almighty God so you have to finish the slaughtering of

Hady (this sacrifice) & ask God to grant you redemption so by each part of it (thesacrifice) he redeems a part of you from the hell, so the bigger the Hady (the sacrifice) &its parts the bigger will be your redemption from the hell (part 1 page 243)


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From all of these it is very obvious that the sacrifices of Adhaa (the sacrifice feast) ispointing to the redemption & expiation, so the Islam admits the idea of the redemption

The fourth challenge :

what was the Christs guilt to be crucified for the

people?

Some may challenge by saying what the innocent Christ has done to be forced by God tobe killed?

Is this clashing with the fact of God is Love?

Actually this question was offered to Dr: Negm Abd-Elkreem the director of All Arabbroadcasting from London in the dialogue between us on air on 1/4/1994

(So I prefer to extract the answer I had said at that time , for more details refer to mybook concerning this dialogue)

You as me: how was an innocent one taken & killed to adsorb the anger of God? to bekilled ? what is his guilt? how does this agree with Gods love?

let me tell you these two verses from the quran

1) The Cow chapter (Surat Al- Baqarah) 61: They used to disbelieve the verses of Allahand killed the Prophets wrongfully

2) The Cow chapter (Surat Al- Baqarah) 87: Is it that whenever there came to you aMessenger with what you yourselves desired not, you grew arrogant? Some, you

disbelieved and some, you killed.


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So there are prophets being killed wrongfully & they didnt deserve to die as they areinnocent,

God permitted this to show his love to the people by sending those innocent prophetsbut they have been killed by those evil people ,but God will punish those evil killers &reward the prophets for their sacrifices, patience & withstanding being murderd for Godssake

The same happened with the Christ with all the love came & withstood this death for allthe people & this doesnt clash with the love of God, but it is the sacrificing exerting love,which endures the redemption of mankind pushed by the love for the forgiveness, this iswhat we believe & the Christianity believes in the issue of the redemption & theforgiveness

The broadcaster: fine, fine

I think this is a complete answer to this challenging


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Finally

My beloved dear reader, after this long research, I hope that you are not tired by the longdetails & the inferences from the books & utterances; I hope you enjoyed this tour in thegardens of the common ground between the Islam & Christianity concerning thisextremely important subject which is the crucifixion of the Christ & the inevitability of theredemption

Before leaving you in this book I want to finalize my talking to you by a real story I heardfrom a witness

The story begins when a father was sleeping in his house after a long tiring day, in themiddle of the night he heard the door of the house open loudly then shut down swiftly tomake a great noise in opening & shutting down, therefore he jumped from his bed scarily& rushed outside his bedroom to figure up what is the matter, he was shocked to see hisonly son with his clothes soaked with blood , he was right in his guess, as his son hadcommitted a murder, the father asked his son to take off his clothes quickly and to wearhis fathers clothes , after he took it out of his body, as they exchanged their clothes, the

police men rushed to the house & arrested the father wearing the clothes soaked withblood as a proof for the murder crime

The father was tried in front of the court he was accused of murder, he remained silent allthrough the trial in spite of the efforts done by the judges & lawyers, and finally he wasconvicted & had the death sentence depending on the material evidence which is theclothes soaked in blood

In the day of execution by hanging he requested to speak to his son, he whispered in hisears saying: today I will be hanged for you to redeem you, to give you a chance to repent& correct your life

Have you seen my brother how was the paternal love,he sacrified by himsself to redeemwhom he loved , with a great difference I am telling you this is just a faint similitude forwhat the christ have done to us , as our redemption required from him to give his pureself as a sacrifice for us & as expiation for our sins

My dear doesnt this lead you to accept his redemption & his salvation that he gave uspushed by his immense love for us his children

God is ready to accept you & forgive all your sins if you accept him & return to him inrepentance

God will be with you & let you enjoy his wonderful salvation Amen.

.


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Documents

Inevitability of the Redemption